1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method capable of recording images of various recording sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording apparatus has been proposed in which the recording means operate at times other than during the actual recording time. In a recording apparatus which prints characters or images on thermosensitive paper in response to heat generation by a thermal head, in a standby condition recording energy is applied for predetermined time intervals to all the portions corresponding to the size of recording means (specifically a thermal head). As a result, the thermal head is always maintained above a predetermined temperature to keep the recorded image quality good. In particular, the quality of the first recorded image is improved. Also, a recording apparatus which performs satisfactory recording of one line by applying recording energy to all the portions corresponding to a thermal head size prior to the operation of recording one line has been proposed.
However, the above-described devices have the following drawbacks which occur because recording energy is applied to all the portions corresponding to a thermal head size regardless of a recording paper size, recording size or thermal head size. This drawback will be explained concretely with regard to conventional printing in which recording means operate at times other than the actual recording time, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.
As shown in FIG. 14, if recording energy is applied to all the portions corresponding to a thermal head size when the size of a thermal head is B4, the size of a recording paper is B4, and the recording size is A4, recording energy is applied to the leftward and rightward portions {portions (a) and (b)} of the B4 recording paper. Therefore, there is a drawback in that this printing operation is performed on a region larger than the recording area, and therefore applied energy is wasted.
As shown in FIG. 15, if recording energy is applied to all the portions corresponding to a thermal head size when the size of a thermal head is B4, and the size of the recording paper is A4, and the recording size is A4, recording energy is applied to portions (c) and (d) of a platen roller, and so the thermal head damages the roller and wastes the applied energy. A further drawback to this method is that ink is deposited on the platen roller in thermal transfer recording.